In this session Neil will present evidence for the academic value of blended learning approaches from a number of studies conducted over the past five years. He will describe a research study conducted to examine the educational value of podcasts and mobile assessment. The study, conducted using final year undergraduate students separated into control and trial groups, showed that providing students with short lecture podcasts accompanied by self-assessments answered using text messages on a mobile telephone enhanced academic performance. His second case study describes research designed to measure the effectiveness of providing students with online video lectures, packaged into short study topics with self-assessment opportunities. The results of this longitudinal study showed that students perform significantly better on examination questions supported by online blended learning resources.

Neil is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Membrane and Systems Biology, University of Leeds. He is interested in a wide range of neuroscience related research areas, most of his research is conducted using neuroanatomical and electrophysiological techniques. He is also involved with pedagogic research and was Director of Learning and Leaching for the Faculty of Bioscience during the recent VLE roll out at Leeds.